Category Archives: Angela Merkel

Arrested German hacker confesses to leaking politicians’ information, report says

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It looks like Russia turned out to be a red herring, after all. German police have arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with a data breach that resulted in the publication of personal information about hundreds of lawmakers from Germany’s Parliament, the Bundestag. Germany’s federal criminal police, known as the BKA, said they searched the suspect’s home on Sunday, confiscating his computer and other personal materials. The young man has confessed to the crime, a prosecutor told the New York Times. The security incident was widely publicized last week when the @_0rbit Twitter account began distributing phone numbers, home addresses and other data about public figures in Germany, including Chancellor Angela Merkel. Representatives from all parties in the Bundestag were affected, except for the far-right Alternative for Germany. The political nature of the data dump, when considered with suspected Russian hackers’ persistent targeting of Germany’s political establishment, led some researchers and at least […]

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German investigators question teenager, search residence, as breach probe continues

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Germany’s federal police agency said Monday it has questioned suspects and searched property as part of its investigation into the data breach that led to the publication of hundreds of lawmakers’ personal information. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said in a Facebook post that officials have been active in the town of Heilbronn, in northern Germany, in the hunt for information about the publication last week of phone numbers, addresses and other data about German officials and journalists. The announcement followed tweets from Jan Schürlein, a German IT developer who announced that authorities had spent four hours on Sunday looking through his home. Da es überall im Fernsehen & den Medien zu sehen ist, ja dass BKA hat gestern in einer mehrstündigen Razzia meine Wohnräume durchsucht. Ich möchte ganz klar darauf hinweisen, dass ich ausschließlich als Zeuge geführt werde. Das BKA bat um öffentliche Zurückhaltung. — Jan Schürlein (@Janomine) […]

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Vast breach exposes German politicians’ personal data

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A sweeping data breach has exposed information on hundreds of German politicians and public figures, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, a German government spokeswoman has confirmed. “Personal data and documents belonging to hundreds of politicians and public figures have been published online,” German government spokeswoman Martina Fietz said at Friday press conference. Every party in German parliament aside from the far-right Alternative for Germany was affected by the breach, with hundreds of mobile phone numbers and addresses of politicians and public figures dumped on Twitter, German news outlet RBB reported. In some cases, private chats and credit card information were included, the report said. But in Merkel’s case, the information exposed was less sensitive and included two email addresses, according to German media reports. “The information and data drained from the chancellery and that relate to the chancellor are manageable,” Fietz said. It is unclear who is responsible for the breach and whether it […]

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Charges of political hacking emerge as major German federal election approaches

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It just wouldn’t be a modern day election without the possibility of cyberattacks and international conflict casting a shadow over the process. With the German federal election approaching on Sept. 24, a political ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said her website was the subject of around 3,000 attempted cyber attacks in the run up to Sunday’s crucial televised debate. Julia Kloeckner, vice chairman of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, did not explain the nature of the attacks but said “many of the senders have Russian IP addresses.” Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) confirmed to CyberScoop they are in contact with CDU over the alleged attacks but could not discuss specific details. The party did not respond to inquiries about the exact nature of the attacks. The vagueness left experts wondering if the thousands of “attacks” are actually something far less severe such as vulnerability scans or a denial of service […]

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News in brief: Uber under fire in ‘Hell’ lawsuit; Europe could be hit by laptop ban; Fancy Bear ‘targeted Macron’

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Your daily round-up of some of the other stories in the news Continue reading News in brief: Uber under fire in ‘Hell’ lawsuit; Europe could be hit by laptop ban; Fancy Bear ‘targeted Macron’→